he can’t remember the song
just the image
her naked dancing
candles the only light in the room
he’s sitting on the floor
leaning back against the couch
the dog asleep above him
and her hips sway
the light playing shadows
where lust lives
and he will bury his head soon
immersed in shadows himself
and hips will be joined
on that floor
that rug
lost in what should have lasted forever
but is only a memory now

for the first time
in many years
I heard sorrow in your voice
the other night
as you said you wished
I was there
but more than miles separate us now
there are those years
and the hurt
we both inflicted
if only you spoke that way
before I left
maybe I would still be there
but now the only sound louder
than the pain in your voice
is the crack
my heart made
in my chest

there is nothing worse
than a misunderstanding
hurt feelings result
a smile becomes one more frown
fondness goes backward again

“Out of the depths I cry to Thee, Oh Lord;
Lord, hear my voice.”

when no one else is listening
when no one else is there
it’s comforting to think
to believe
one’s voice isn’t lost
no matter how far one has drifted
out to sea

Deep down, the night has massed again
My darling smiles in her wonted place
My darling who doesn’t come by day
Appears at night by the pool.

The moonlight a sash for her waist
The heavens her secret veil
The stars roses in her hand.

translated by Bernard Lewis

I shut my eyes tight:
you are there in the dark,
lying on your back in the darkness,
your forehead and wrists are a golden triangle in the dark.

My darling, you are inside my eyelids that are closed,
there are songs inside my closed eyelids.
Now everything starts with you in there.
Now, nothing remains there that was mine before you
and nothing that doesn’t belong to you.

translated by Talat S. Halman

In the 1940s I had a glorious time in Hollywood because I was fired almost at once from the project I was working on and they had to continue to pay me. That was in my contract. For six months they had to pay me $250 a week. This was in 1943, when $250 was equivalent to about $1,000 now, I would guess. They had to pay me whether I had an assignment or not.

First they put me on Marriage Is a Private Affair for Lana Turner. Well, they expressed great delight with my dialogue, and I think it was good. But they said, “You give Miss Turner too many multisyllable words!” So I said, “Well some words do contain more than one syllable!” And Pandro Berman, who loved me very much–Lana Turner just happened to be his girlfriend at the time–he said to me, “Tennessee, Lana can tackle…

he sits there staring
at the question as if it
might answer itself

just remember
it works like this
if they don’t get you first
they get you second

a person is always
what they do
their actions define
their character
words are empty
unless validated by action
it’s easy to quote poetry
or political philosophy
but unless you live a life
that reflects those words
you are false
a mask hiding your real self
the hardest thing in life
is to live your words
otherwise
why even speak
without the appropriate action
it’s just air